SOURCE: "Chariots of Desire," in Newsweek, Vol. XCIX, No. 6, February 8, 1982, p. 60.

In the following review, Kroll favorably discusses Personal Best, contending that it not only "takes the world of track and field as a microcosm for the ecstacies and pains of self-striving," but also explores lesbianism as "a paradigm of authentic human intimacy."

Robert Towne's splendid film Personal Best opens at the 1976 Olympic track tryouts at Eugene, Ore. In the first shot you're looking at a screen filled with blurred, sungold images. Then, slowly, the profiled face of Mariel Hemingway drops into the frame in sharp focus, two beads of sweat glistening at the tip of her nose and chin as she crouches at the start of the 100-meter hurdles. It's an image of beauty and concentration, which is what this original, compelling and no doubt controversial film is all about—the beauty of human beings focusing all...